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There has been a burgeoning interest in developing small satellites for different applications, such as earth observation and communications. For each mission, there is a need for a reliable communication link at the ground station. The design for such a link requires careful consideration of a number of factors. These include satellite ephemeris/geometry, atmospheric propagation effects, microwave antenna design, noise analysis, RF cascade analysis, modulation schemes, and error correction schemes. A demonstration link budget is presented in order to highlight the required analysis of each of these factors, and how they are combined to produce a satellite downlink design.